Christie plans D.C. rollout

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is bringing his blunt talk about fiscal responsibility to Washington this week in a speech sure to stoke speculation about his national prospects – which have intensified in recent weeks as some Republicans openly fret about the strength of their 2012 field.

Like Christie himself, the message he’ll deliver Wednesday at the conservative American Enterprise Institute is unorthodox and straightforward: he accuses both parties, Democrats and Republicans alike, of “timidity” in the face of the coming fiscal calamity.

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“It’s hard, but it can be dealt with,” Christie said of his speech, previewed for POLITICO, which will focus on his battles with the state’s teachers unions. “I’m a little mystified as to why they’re not doing it, on either side. Because what we’ve shown in New Jersey is that the public is hungry for this.”

“I don’t think anybody’s ever accused me of being ambiguous. So I think when I get done, they’ll have a good idea of what I’m talking about,” he said.

Christie is candid about his willingness to consider national office in the future but insists he’ll be sitting out 2012, saying he is “challenged and content and excited to be the governor of New Jersey, and I got a lot of work to do here – we are far from being fixed.”

“I’m not running for president,” Christie, 48, said by phone from his desk in Trenton Monday. “And I don’t know anybody who would want somebody like me as their vice president.”

But that hasn’t stopped some Republicans from seeing Christie as the answer for a party that badly wants to beat President Barack Obama two years out. He drew 6 percent of the vote at last weekend’s Conservative Political Action Conference straw poll – tied for third, even though he’s not running.

Conservative commentator Ann Coulter has emerged as a vocal backer, telling Fox and Friends Monday morning, “I would say he’s the only Republican who could win.”

And it’s not just Coulter. One overriding sentiment at CPAC last week was that there was still a spot in the race for a newcomer. Some have pushed former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. Others have turned to Christie, a former U.S. attorney who unseated incumbent Jon Corzine in 2009 and who is enjoying a wave of GOP national celebrity.

Earlier in the year Christie turned down an opportunity to offer the Republican response to Obama’s State of the Union speech.

In a season of revolt against canned politics, his unapologetic swagger and decisiveness have registered with voters and activists.

“I am who I am,” he said. “To the extent that people are finding any type of attraction to what I’m doing, it’s mostly because it’s because I’m being straight with them. It’s not a bunch of prepared hooey, read off a teleprompter.”

AEI, which sometimes has to fill speeches with employees and interns, says the response to Christie has been so phenomenal that room reached its capacity of 300 less than a week after his speech was announced. Reporters and others are now being referred to a livestream on the Web.